The president said that in coming weeks he would announce the elimination of "dozens of government programs." And he would ask his Cabinet secretaries Monday for specific proposals to slash their departments' budgets - promising "no sacred cows and no pet projects."

"As surely as our future depends on building a new energy economy, controlling health-care costs and ensuring that our kids are once again the best educated in the world," Obama said, "it also depends on restoring a sense of responsibility and accountability to our federal budget."

The president's declaration, delivered in his Saturday radio address, comes at a time when the administration is working to build support for his budget and his ambitious - and potentially very costly - domestic policy agenda.

Obama, who was in Trinidad and Tobago on Saturday for the Summit of the Americas, did not say how much money he hoped to save with the campaign.

Since Democrats pushed through the $787 billion stimulus package in February, Republicans on Capitol Hill have accused the administration and its congressional allies of being profligate spenders.

On Saturday, Rep. Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., kept up the attack.

"When will all this spending and borrowing end?" McCarthy said in the GOP's weekly response.

Obama has contended that investments in expanding access to health care, improving schools and addressing global climate change will save money in the long term. But in his Saturday address, he sought to highlight more immediate efforts, as well.

He singled out a move by Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano to end consulting contracts to create seals and logos that he said had cost the department $3 million since 2003. The president also hinted at broader efforts to cut fraud and abuse in the $500 billion Medicare program and to end tax breaks for companies that send jobs overseas.

To lead the efficiency effort, Obama said, he was tapping Jeffrey D. Zients, a former corporate executive and founder of the Washington, D.C.-based investment company Portfolio Logic.

Zients is to serve as chief performance officer, a job that the administration had hoped would go to Nancy Killefer, but Killefer withdrew after revelations that she had mishandled payroll taxes for household help.